Divinity of the Void
by Torrigan Lattonen
Summary: the tale of the burgeoning void mage struggling in the land of helgenkia has been told many times. but how many have told the story of a goddesses rebirth in the process? or of the actions of the founder, who left the world in the state it is...
1. And so it begins

so a slightly new idea ive been tossing around, i know its not the most orriginal idea, but whatever.

the familiar of zero world is fairly well documented by this point, and with the absolute lack of valkyrie profile fics out there i thought id bring one to the table.

i do want to mention beforehand that this will update slow. i dont hold to any kind of schedual whatsoever and it kinda shows in my writing, but once a project is up i will see it through to completion, it may take a while but ittl get there. and as always the obligatory disclaimer:

I OWN NOTHING. aside from the original plotlines if there are any, and any original caracters if i introduce any, the remainder of this work bleongs to the original publishers.

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Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, daughter of the duchess Karin Desiree de la Vallière, and her husband the duke, Second year student at the Tristain academy of magical arts, and absolute failure as a mage. In the country of Tristain, nobility is granted to those who can wield magic, regardless of financial situation or familial history. It is a point of pride; those with power wield the political power within the nation.

The De La Vallière family was renowned for producing mages of nearly prodigious talent; both the duke and the duchess were rated as square class mages, and both of Louise's sisters were well on their way to becoming square as well, both having attained an advanced level of competency as triangle class mages early on in their schooling.

So Louise, in her second year at the magical academy was under tremendous pressure. She had yet to be recognized as even a dot class mage. Every single spell she cast ended in failure. Without exception, every time she cast any magic, it exploded in her face, literally. This had the unfortunate side effect of giving her a nickname in school, one her peers were quite fond of using.

Louise the Zero as in: Zero success, Zero chance, Zero hope.

It was an unfortunate situation. And one her family was all too aware of, her mother had actually been grooming her for a political marriage for a few summers now, instead of magical training with her sisters, or tactics with her father, Karin had Louise focus on the skills of a housewife, cooking, cleaning, knitting… etc, the unfortunate thing was that her lack of talent with the magical arts wasn't exclusive. She lacked any kind of finesse or grace that her mother would have expected of her daughter.

Because of the frustration this caused, she had been allowed to start her education at the academy in the vain hope that the education would kick start her potential. And she had put her all into it. Not one student in the entirety of the academy could claim to be her mental superior. History, magical theory, science, alchemy, mathematics, and music she had mastered nearly every aspect of her life as a student, aside from practical application. And her fellow students NEVER let her forget that.

And she was staring straight in the face of her absolute last chance to make something of herself other than a housewife. The springtime summoning ritual proved definitively weather or not a noble had ANY magical potential. If she couldn't summon anything she was going to be forced to give up, and give in to her mother's designs. If she could; then it would just be the first step on a long road to becoming someone worthy of her noble family.

She had gone over the books again and again. She knew the ritual better than many of the teachers. Everything she knew of the theory was sound. The ritual relied less on her, and more on the magic of Helgenkia to find a compatible familiar for her.

And so on the day of the ritual, she was confident in her ability to perform this magic.

The ritual field was set up on a large cobblestone courtyard, within the school grounds. Professor Colbert was going to be overseeing the proceedings, just to ensure that even if a student did summon something inherently dangerous, that the situation could be controlled.

In total her class had 100 students participating in the ritual today. Most of them would summon something mundane, domesticated animals; cats, dogs, small birds, even some reptiles.

Some of the 'lucky' ones would get something more interesting. One student managed to summon an 'evil eye'. It was basically a giant floating eyeball, and while it was inherently magical, and in the wild dangerous, due to the ritual it was no more troublesome than a tabby cat.

One of the most troublesome students (in Louise opinion) Kirche Zerbst, managed to summon a salamander, a red lizard with an ever burning living flame tipping its tail that was about 600 pounds and seven feet long from snout to burning tail tip. Her familiar strongly reflected her elemental affinity.

Another student Louise barely got along with got another 'exotic' familiar. Guiche de Grammont an earth mage and son of one of Tristains generals summoned a giant mole.

The most outstanding summon of the day went to Tabitha though. Her summon was a dragon of all things. A magnificent blue dragon, it appeared to be a juvenile, but that was within reason, Tabitha was no older by human standards.

Finally it came to Louise turn, she had procrastinated, and delayed until all of the other students had gotten their familiars, and she was the absolute last one to perform the ritual for the day. And it made her nervous as hell.

When she stepped forward to draw her summoning circle on the ground, her hands were shaking so badly she misspelled many of the simplest runes. Kirche ever the antagonist couldn't let that go un-announced. "Look at that! Zero can't even spell anymore, come on professor, lets just call it a day, spare her the embarrassment. We all know she can't do it right anyways."

Louise hated that nickname, and every time the Zerbst girl used it, it got right under her skin, no matter how small of a matter it was. So going red in the face louise turned to face her detractor.

"SHUT UP ZERBST! You aren't helping any!"

"CHILDREN! That will be quite enough, Miss Zerbst, I will ask you to remain quiet while miss Valliere makes her attempt." Professor Colbert was a short man of moderate age, he was balding, either prematurely or from the stress his career as a teacher exposed him to. But he was a kind and patient man, more than willing to give everyone their fair shot. "Please continue Miss Valliere."

"Thank you professor" Louise after having the professor come to her aid had calmed down, and noticed her previous errors. After correcting her mistakes, and finishing the circle out. The professor handed her a book with the incantation she needed. Pricking her finger and letting a drop of her blood fall onto the circle she began her chant.

"Ich rufe dich, pentagram der fünf Elemente, bringe mein vertraut und binden ihn in meine Dienste. Please, I am Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, my familiar, divine, beautiful, proud, noble, and strong familiar, heed my call, and come forth."

With her wand in the hand she dripped the blood from, and the spell book in the other, she stood over the summoning circle expectantly, waiting.

One of the other students, who had summoned a rabbit, decided to take this opportunity to speak up. "Professor, Kirche was right! the Zero couldn't even get this right, lets go inside!"

The lone student's cries were echoed throughout the crowd. Louise hung her head in shame. She had failed again.

"Professor PLEASE! Let me try again!"

Her eyes had unshed tears shining in them, she was desperate. She wanted anything aside from the life her mother had planned for her, and this was her last shot at avoiding it.

The professor slowly shook his head. "I'm sorry Miss Valliere, but each student is allowed only one attempt. You will have to repeat the year, or attempt your classes without a familiar."

"Noo…" Louise sunk to her knees, she had failed utterly. She wouldn't get to repeat the year, or even finish this one. Once her mother heard of this, she would be in the first carriage back on her way to the Valliere estate. As she sat there crying her failure, and the other students began to disperse back to their various activities, a light began to shine from the summoning circle she had drawn.

The professor hadn't moved from his place, once Louise left, cleaning up the field was his responsibility after all, and so as she sat on her failure crying, the professor was right there to see her circle re-create itself.

What his student had drawn was fairly simple. A basic triangle, with three other outward facing triangles along the sides of the main one, bound within a circle, with runes in the appropriate areas for better willpower channeling, and reinforcement. What he was looking at now was something else altogether, what had originally been a simple triangle, was now looked as if it were three interlaced, and layered pentagram circles, with every line being written completely of complex runes, describing things that the professor hadn't ever heard of, many of the symbols on the ground were completely alien to the professor. And it very much looked like the circle was about to explode like all of her spells thus far had been known to. But one thing was clear to him, his student hadn't failed. "Miss Louise… I suggest you step back."

"…Huh?" Louise face came up to regard the professor. Who in turn had lost the joviality he normally had with his students. As she watched, he threw his arms wide, and a wave of fire sprang up between Louise circle, and the rest of the dispersing students. Still too confused to react, and sitting on the edge of the circle Louise was blown away from the center of her attempt, and straight into the waiting arms of her teacher.

A massive cloud of smoke unrelated to the fire the professor had made filled the air. from within the cloud a presence could be felt. it was an almost visceral feeling that seemed to stimulate all of the senses at once. And as the soke began to clear a shape became visible, where the circle had been a woman lay on her back. Clad in dark armor, and a feathered helmet.

Louise had succeeded. She had summoned this woman whoever she was; now all she needed to do was finish the contract. The professor spoke up to that intent. "Louise, congratulations, now… finish the contract and complete your summons."

"Yes professor…" still in a daze from the overwhelming explosion her summons had caused, Louise stumbled over to the unconscious woman. "Durch die fünf elementaren Pentagramm, ich akzeptiere dies als meine vertraute."

As she finished her chant, louise sealed the pact with a kiss on the woman's lips.

Cociousness was slow in returning to Hrist. She had spent a small eternity in the embrace of sleep, and it was loathe to relenquish its hold. The first sensation to register in her mind was pain. Unsupprising, rebirth was never plesant. The pain was minor, and fleeting. Touch was next, her armor felt like it was still intact, her greaves, gloves, and brestplate were sound, and still coated in ether. Good to know somethings don't change. Hearing was the next to return and the first thing she heard was a small girl nearby, worridly speaking presumably to a teacher.

"...sor why isnt she waking up?"

The man she was speaking to sounded older, gentle, but with an edge to his voice that led her to belive he had ALOT of experience. He was one to keep an eye on.

"patience child, she will wake soon, I can feel the magic of your spell building within her."

'Hmm... so the girl is reponsible for me being here? Good to know'

Sight was the next of her faculties to return. The girl she had been hearing up till now came into focus in a great pink blur. The little pink blob was hovering close over her face, and the man she was speaking to was not far off, standing just behind the girl. Mobility was next. Although when Hrist tried to sit up, she expirienced vertigo for the first time in her long long existance.

Louise was stunned, now that she had a chance to get a better look, her familliar was absolutly breathtaking. Her facial features were gracefully sharp and refined. To Loise it felt like she was in the presence of a queen. And when she opened her scarlet eyes and looked straight at her, Louise found it hard to belive that this woman was her familliar, there was just something that was just plain NOBLE about her. she was barely able to ask her a single question.

"...what is your name?"

Hrist knew something was going on, If this girl was responsible for her being here, then she was probably a demi-god, or a mage of some significant ability. and there was this nagging feeling like she had met the child before. which in all honesty was not and outstanding possibility. Odin had the nasty habit of putting the Valkyries "on vacation" in a mortal shell on Midgar when they weren't needed.

"Lennore, you may call me Lennore." It was a name she had used before, while she was traveling with Alicia, the human container for her sister Silmeria, that had been a long time ago. And the name brought alot of memories with it.

"Lennore, I am Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, and you are my familiar." something about Louise reminded her very much of her sister Sillmeria, it might have been her attitude, or the lightness of her hair, or any number of other things. but that sense of familiarity kept Hrist from dissmissing the little pink mage offhand.

'_So that was the game. Somehow this half-pint little girl has managed to summon ME as a familiar? This should be good. I think i'll play along... for now.'_

"I see." Taking in Louise appearance, and that of her older mentor, Hrist surmised that she was in some sort of academy teaching magic. Not unreasonable most all of the major nations across Midgar at one point or another had at least one such school. But then again this didn't feel like the Midgar Hrist remembered.

Professor Colbert was overall satisfied with the situation, but one thing remained, the woman had identified herself, but that was not the runic name she would be known by, and as the administrator of the exam it was his responsibility to record her summons by that name and that name alone. Unfortunately there was no unobtrusive way to go about seeing the runes on her hand. Might as well ask directly…

"Madame, may I please see the back of your hands without the gauntlets on?"

Hrsit saw no apparent reason to comply with him. And removing her armor left her she was determined to avoid in her current condition. "No."

Louise was annoyed that her familiar was being obstinate. "Lenore remove your gloves so the professor can see your runes."

"I will not disarm myself in public Louise. If all your 'professor' wants is to know what the runes say, then i can get back to him later." Both Louise and the professor were stunned, not only was Lennore refusing the profesor's request, but she was refusing her master as well.

Unfortunately the distraction that Hrist had caused to the professor had allowed the wall of fire he created to dissipate. And now that the three were revealed to the rest of the students they revealed just how little they thought of a human familiar.

"HA! So even if the Zero can summon a familiar, all she can get is a stupid commoner?"

"I bet she paid that woman to act as her familiar."

"Once a zero always a zero."

On and on the students went. Surprisingly Kirche wasn't among those teasing the young aristocrat.

She was still there, but silently taking the situation in much like Tabitha next to her. Something about Louise's familiar was keeping her quiet.

"Students! That will be quite enough. Please return to your classrooms." The professor's commanding voice echoed across the field, despite the size of it.

Still kneeling next to her familiar, Louise was once again in tears. She was so sure that once she had her familiar the teasing would stop. Sure, Lennore didn't look too impressive, and she wasn't a dragon, or a griffon, or even a manticore like her mother had summoned. But there was something so much deeper about the woman that just made Louise respect her very presence.

Hrist for her part wasn't slow. She knew that somehow Louise being teased by her peers was somehow related to her. "Louise, why are they calling you 'zero'?"

"It's because… *sniff…* I've never successfully cast magic before today." Still crying but calming down now that Lennore was waking up Louise managed a quick explanation.

"I see." Hrist was unaware of the political ramifications that Louise had just brought up. But it didn't really matter. "They are making fun of your talents as a mage I take it?" Louise nodded her response. "Ha! Trust me child, pay them no mind. You brought me here; you are in all likelihood, the most powerful mage on the face of this world."

Now that she thought about it, Hrist felt a distinct lack of 'Divine' energy in the air, she still felt her own, and surprisingly enough, Louise had a significant amount of it as well. But there seemed to be a lack of any other sources, as if there were no gods interfering with the mortals of this world.

The professor despite shooing the rest of the students off had been paying attention to the conversation between the summoner, and her new familiar. Lennore was still and unknown factor, and the title she had declared scared Jean more than a little. Something else was bugging the professor now her manner of speech could lead one to believe that she had experience with other worlds. "Miss Lennore I apologize for this, but I must ask. Who are you?"

Louise was shocked and more than a little offended. The professor was suspicious of her familiar. HER FAMILLIAR! "Professor! That is rude!"

Smirking lightly as she levered herself to her feet Hrist tried to calm her little pink mistress down. "Louise its quite alright." Turning on still shaky legs, Hrist looked the professor in the eye, with a stare that had reduced men of lesser caliber to mere stuttering piles of excrement and madness she simply told the man "I'm nothing more than an adventurer. Think nothing of it."

Turning away from the man, she waved a hand dismissively.

The professor felt a wave of vertigo hit him momentarily and then dismissed it as his imagination. He had better things to do than worry about some odd familiar, research beckoned him!

Louise had felt something, she wasn't sure what it was, but as her familiar dismissed the professor Louise had felt SOMETHING. But there were more important things to worry about, her familiar didn't look all that good right now, and the best thing Louise could think of was to get her back to her room. Unfortunately her familiar was about a foot and a half taller than she was. And in her armor she was nearly half again Louise weight, it was a struggle just to keep upright with the larger woman leaning on her for support. When Kirche stepped in and took some of Lennore's weight off of Louise the smaller noble was surprised. Not angry, but defiantly confused, surprised and suspicious, Kirche NEVER did something like this without some sort of reward and Louise knew it. "What do you want Zerbst?"

Feigning hurt, Kirche picked up the banter. "I'm hurt; I can't help my friend just to help?"

"FRIEND!? I don't remember ever being a friend to a Zerbst." Louise was genuinely shocked, Kirche had never done anything more than tease and harass Louise all of her school career add that on top of the fact that both of their families had a long standing feud, and it was honestly hard to believe that Kirche was doing ANYTHING for Louise out of the goodness of her heart.

"Oh come now! Don't tell me you don't enjoy our flirting all the time!" Kirche had a mischievous look in her eyes as she taunted Louise, Tabitha only made it worse by taking an exaggerated step away from the girl, without looking up from her book, she added in "…pervert"

"Oh hush you!" the dark skinned busty young woman was in generally good spirits. And Hrist was taking it all in. there was no hostility in any of the girls. Louise was nervous; there was definite history between her and the other girl supporting her, but no hostility. If it wasn't for the fact that Louise responded so badly to Kirche's teasing and innuendos Hrist would have passed them off as any other group of friends. It wasn't uncommon to see Enherjar lounging in Valhalla to deride each other relentlessly all day, and then find them singing songs of victory and drinking together in the evening.

The group finally made it to Louise chambers, and got Hrist onto the bed, Kirche and Tabitha disappeared back into the castle that comprised the academy with a short promise of seeing each other around the school, and Louise followed shortly after, stating that she was going to get food.

Once they were all finally gone, Hrist was able to stop the vertigo causing her weakness. Sitting upright in the bed, she took stock of her situation.

'The girl Louise is obviously responsible for bringing me to this realm, is this a summoning or a reincarnation though?'

Hrist's memories were still very much intact, the last thing she remembered before waking in the summoning field, was merging her soul with her sisters, creating the 'true' Valkyrie, the bastard blasphemer mage Lezard had to die, and that was the only way. So if she was here on her own now, then reincarnation was the more likely of the options. And if that was so… how long had it been since Ragnarok?

That was a question that would take some research to answer. But in the meantime she needed a reasonable gauge of her available power. If she was indeed recently reincarnated then she might be slightly limited…

A quick search through her soul revealed just as she suspected, while she could still feel that her Enherjar existed, and were alive somewhere, she couldn't call on them. It was as if they were either sealed, or someone else had possession of their souls.

But, while she couldn't call her old Enherjar, nothing was preventing her from finding new ones. Her ability to manipulate Photons, Ether and magic were unimpeded as well.

Unfortunately her personal armaments seemed to be inaccessible as well. Aside from the armor she wore, nothing tied to Midgar or Asgard seemed to be accessible to her. That was fine; her ability to manipulate Photons meant she was hardly unarmed.

While her sisters were both builders she was a destroyer, both Lenneth and Silmeria created constructs with their photons, and the projectiles they threw were non lethal. Hrist made weapons. And the Photon projectiles she threw were violently explosive.

It was a temporary measure at best, and draining to use in protracted combat, but with the limited options she had at the moment it was reliable. And when she finally did get ahold of some reliable arms, her ability to manipulate Ether ensured that she would never have to maintain, replace, or upgrade what she found. And anything she didn't take a liking to could be broken down into pure energy to use to forge something else. Overall she was fairly self sufficient.

The lack of reliable magic at her immediate disposal did cause her some concern though. and although she was fairly proficent in the manipulation of divine energy, the general lack could prove problematic, especally surrounded by so many mages... Human mages had time and time again proven far more capable than she was comfortable with, the royal court mages of Dipan, ascending into undeath and actually creating a viable time travel device sat pretty high on that list. As did the upstart Lezard Valeth, who had found the secret to divinity, and used it to overthrow Odin, and prematurely cause Ragnarok. Both situations were dealt with and the mages in question had died in the end but the point remained. And here she sat, in the bed chambers of another such mage, strong enough to force the rebirth or reincarnation of a goddess. And supposedly she was to serve this little pink mage as her familiar...

Louise was still at a loss, her familiar was not what she was expecting, but it wasn't a bad thing. Thanks to her mother and father, Louise could recognize true noble bearing miles away, and her Lennore had that quality in spades, even weakened as she was. Louise had left her room shortly after getting her settled onto Louise own bed, intent on getting food, she hadn't eaten all morning after all and she had the feeling that Lennore was just as hungry. It was a simple matter to get one of the castle servants to bring Louise meal to her room, with a second portion for Lennore added on as well.

When Louise returned to her room and saw Lennore standing in the middle of the room holding a rather large crystal halberd, she fainted almost dead away…

Seeing the little pinkette mage collapse in a heap in the hallway had been amusing, but something about the girl left Hrist unsettled, it was hard to nail the feeling down, but for some reason the little girl who would be the master of a goddess strongly reminded Hrist of her youngest sister. Silmeria. With that thought in her mind, Hrist retrieved her diminutive summoner from the hallway, and placed her on the bed.

Removing her armor with a thought and a small burst of power Hrist cast a casual glance to her hands, on the back of her left hand, a set of runes were carved into her flesh, as if she had been branded with a hot iron. it read as if it were a lable; Gandalfer the left hand of god.

as she was going over the implications of the brand, she heard her diminutive summoner mumbling something, asking her big sister for help of some kind. Apparently Hrist and Louise had that in common; they both bore immense love and care for those close to them. Smiling gently Hrist chose to spend the first night of her new life protectively sleeping with her soon to be adopted little sister trying to ease whatever nightmares troubled the girl.

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so there it is, chapter 1 done. if you saw potential here, or anything you feel you need to call me out on or comment on please feel free. reviews are always good, even flames let me know that something is happening here.


	2. A Duel? or an Execution?

Its a bit shorter than the last chapter, but it ends in a rather delicious place heheh...

anyways, as usual: I OWN NOTHING!

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Louise awoke the next morning comfortably in the arms of her elder sister Cattleya, at least she thought she did. She was far too comfortable for it to be her cold and impersonal room at the academy. But the lighting was wrong for it to be her room back at the De La Valliere manor.

Sitting up and stretching out with a cute little ~munya~ Louise looked around and found that yes, she was at the academy, but it was far too bright out for it to be just after dawn, when she normally awoke. And she was far too comfortable. Looking around the room sleepily, Louise finally saw the dark haired fair skinned woman sleeping in her bed, her arm draped lazily across Louise body.

All thoughts (sluggish as they may be at the moment) in Louise head came to a screeching halt. Her brain went into overdrive trying to figure out what had happened the previous night. She recognized the woman as Lennore, the familiar she had summoned, the memory of that small victory brought a warmth to Louise that had nothing to do with the blankets on the bed.

And she remembered going to get dinner, and bringing it back, but she didn't remember eating, or getting into bed… let alone getting into bed WITH her familiar. It was an awkward situation, and one she didn't rightly have an explanation for, so instead of screaming her head off and attracting attention (her natural first instinct), Louise simply slid out of the bed as gently as she could, trying not to wake the woman and make things even more awkward.

Alas much to Louise bad luck, Lennore had lived as a warrior for far too long, and was wide awake as soon as the mini mage had begun to stir. "Good morning Louise I trust you slept well?"

"hurk…" Louise wasn't expecting her companion to be awake and had no response to her question. As Lennore sat up Louise got an even bigger surprise… the woman had slept alongside her naked. Pointing a finger at her Louise could only stutter lamely. "n… n…. naked… why?"

Looking at herself, and then back to Louise and the growing luminescent blush on her face, Hrist could only smile. "Would you rather I had slept on your bed in my dress? Or in my armor?"

Shrugging her shoulders Hrist continued. "Besides this was more comfortable."

Sliding off of the bed she had shared with Louise Hrist stood and went to clothe herself once more. As she dressed Louise couldn't help but feel slightly envious of her familiar. She was by no means as shapely as someone like Kirche, or some of the teachers at the school, but her figure almost radiated feminine perfection.

Her muscles were tone, without taking away from her femininity, and her curves while noticeable, didn't get the way. She was almost too good to be true, and in truth she reminded Louise very much of her mother, even the way she moved seemed reminiscent of her mothers 'rule of steel'. And Louise felt all the more inadequate for it, she was well aware that she still had the figure and bearing of a twelve year old little girl, despite being seventeen and quickly approaching eighteen..

Once her familiar was dressed she turned and asked "So what is the plan for today?"

The return to a normal topic almost seemed like a slap in the face for the young student, she was still standing at the side of her bed in her underwear. "Umm… class?"

Lennore nodded sagely. "Yes I do remember someone coming by while it was still dark out shouting something to that effect… I told them to go away." As she finished describing her dawn awakening and subsequent shooing away of the help staff, the lunch bells sounded from the castle tower, signaling the day to be half over…

The color draining from Louise face and the look of abject terror that she wore was absolutely hilarious to Hrist, she was just as much fun to tease as Silmeria had been so long ago. And as fun as it was causing Louise to have a panic attack first thing in the morning, it probably wouldn't be good for her image if she took off running to class in nothing but her panties…

So Hrist decided to spoil her own fun. "*sigh*… Louise, the maid this morning stopped by to inform you that class had been canceled for all of the summoners from yesterday, we get to spend the day getting to know each other better." Looking the girl over, Hrist couldn't help but admire the impression of a fish that Louise was attempting. Her mouth kept opening and closing, but nothing came out.

Finally growing tired of the morning games, Hrist put her hand on Louise chin. "Come Louise, dress yourself so we can be off to lunch."

The reminder of her state of dress shocked Louise out of her stupefied funk, and sent her into a boiling rage instead, with wand in had she demanded that Hrist exit the room… "OUT! GET OUT NOW!" her last statement was followed by a small explosion that was muffled by a closing door.

Standing in the hall waiting for Louise was Kirche. "Good morning Lennore, I trust Louise is well today?"

Laughing softly at her summoner's expense Hrist smiled even as she gave a dismissive "hmph" towards the busty redhead.

Louise emerging from her room, fully dressed and ready for the day in record time, found her familiar looking square at someone she very much didn't want to see especially science she had so recently woken up. "What do you want Zerbst?"

"Well I did have something important to say, but your rude familiar made me go and forget! you should really work on how friendly she is Louise, Its unbecoming of your character for your familiar to be so rude, especially to a noble." Shrugging her shoulders in mock exasperation Kirche turned and continued her way down the hall, towards Tabitha's room.

"Lenore... what did you do?" Louise had been having a rollercoaster morning and the last thing she needed was to find out her familiar had insulted another noble; it would ruin her already shaky reputation. And possibly hurt her family's reputation.

"I ignored her." Hrist stated simply a small smirk on her face.

"That's it? Stupid Zerbst, lets go Lenore, I'm hungry, and dealing with Kirche makes me mad." Louise turned and headed in the opposite direction, towards the dining hall where the nobles ate.

All in all it appeared like everyone in the hall was in good spirits. Even Louise was smiling; the success of her summoning yesterday had apparently taken some of her detractors away after all. When an argument between Guiche and one of the waiting staff broke out Hrist had originally intended to pay it no mind, it didn't affect her or Louise in any way.

The playboy fop had dropped a bottle of perfume given to him by one paramour, a maid returned it to him while he was with another, this ended up getting the playboy smacked by both of his would be lovers. He blamed the maid for shaming him in public, and dishonoring the two girls he was two timing with.

Hrist had enough, she could tolerate the arrogance most mortals displayed, but what this child was doing was insufferable, and she couldn't stand it anymore. Sure if the maid had deserved it whatever, go nuts. But this arrogant ass of a playboy, was accusing a perfectly innocent woman of interfering with his misbegotten love life, and taking out the frustration of getting caught on her… this couldn't stand she wouldn't let it.

Standing from the table and walking over to where the argument was taking place. Hrist gently put her hand on the maid's shoulder, grabbing the attention of both the arrogant fop, and the poor maid.

"Boy that is enough." Guiche was going crimson in the face at this point, his anger building to a boiling point.

"And what business is it of yours what a noble does, commoner?" The fop attempted to cover his anger by bringing his rose wand up to his face, acting as if he was sniffing the artificial flower.

"Absolutely none." Hrist's apparent dismissal of the situation caused a look of victory to spread over the face of the playboy.

"That's right! Now be on you way and I'll let this pa~" Guiche was attempting to look merciful and suave, he still had an audience after all. But Hrist would have none of it.

"The business of what a NOBLE and a commoner do is not my concern; however what I see before me, is an abusive immature little boy that doesn't know how to graciously admit he was wrong nor does he have any claim to the title of NOBLE." Hrist wasn't in her full glory, the lack of weapon or armor took quite a bit away from her icy glare, but the boy before her was nowhere near the man that the professor had been the day before. He squirmed under her glare and took the only out he could think of.

"fffff…. Fine! A duel then! I challenge you to a duel! I'll show you just what happens when someone insults one of their betters!" his confidence seemed to grow with every word, who was this common woman to stand up to Guiche Garmonte anyways? He was the son of a famous general, a dot class earth mage, and a trained tactician. She stood no chance.

A hungry look came over Hrist's face. "Are you sure boy?"

"HA! You stand up so valiantly, and now you intend to back out?" Guiche took the woman asking for affirmation as a sign of weakness.

.

"You didn't answer my question boy, are you sure you wish to duel me in personal combat?"

The hungry look in Hrist's eyes never wavered, to her; the boy in front of her was beginning to look a lot like prey before a wolf.

"YES DAMMIT! An hour from now at the vestry court."

The frustration was returning to Guiche's face, he was losing his cool; something about this woman was seriously disturbing.

"One final time, you are sure you wish to fight me?" The third time is the charm; this was Guiche's last chance to back out. And she let him know.

"YES! I've already stated the time and place. Make sure you are there." With that the pompous ass turned and left the field his giant mole waddling after him.

"Gladly boy." To siesta the maid, at that moment, the woman who had come to her rescue looked very much like a wolf standing over a piece of raw meat. Despite that feeling, she felt she needed to warn the woman away from this.

"Please ma'm, don't fight on my behalf, I've dealt with nobles like him before, all he would do is hit me a little." She was starting to cry now at the thought of what a duel with a noble could entail. "But if you duel him, he will try and maim you, or even kill you!"

The hungry smile never budged from Hrist's face, she was going to enjoy this VERY much.

"Don't worry about me, I'm looking forward to this…" as she turned to make her way to the Vestry court her summoner caught up with her and the Maid. Kirche and Tabitha who were sitting nearby had overheard most of what was going on and were curious for details. Kirche was the one to broach the subject.

"Enjoy what Lennore?" Hrist ignored the inquiry, already planning on how she would fight. Seista answered for her though.

"The Miss accepted a challenge to duel from Mister Garmonte." Seista was in full blown sobbing now. She could deal with a few hits from a fop like Guiche, it wouldn't be the first time, but for someone to actually go to the danger of dueling for her? It was unheard of, and WAY more than she could handle.

Both Kirche and Louise were stunned, and reacted at the same time.

"She did what?

"What happened?"

Louise turned to Kirche. "We have to stop this; maybe if we go apologize to him he would be willing to call of the duel."

Tabitha nodded her head in agreement "… Dangerous."

For Kirche, tabitha's comment was off, something wasn't adding up, she knew that Guiche had a bit of a temper, and was more than a little bit of an idiot. But he was in no way enough of a threat for Tabitha to classify him as 'dangerous'…

Kirche had the sneaking suspicion that she was missing out on a key piece of information…

"Tabitha you aren't saying that Guiche is dangerous are you?"

Shaking her head in the negative she elaborated as succinctly as she ever did. "… Guiche in danger. Scared Flame. " as she succinctly laid out her reasoning she turned another page in her book, the threat on the life of her new friend's familiar, or on the life of her classmate barely rated her attention apparently.

Kirche thought back to yesterdays summoning, and how from the moment she summoned him, her precious flame was absolutely inseparable from her even now she could feel his presence in her room, comfortably dozing on the bed she had bought for him. Back on the fire ridge mountains where her precious flame had come from, salamanders were at the top of the food chain, right next to the fire dragons that roosted there. But yesterday when she moved to assist Louise and her commoner back to the dorms, Flame had maintained some distance, as if he was afraid to get close to Lenore. Tabitha was right; something pretty big was going on.

Louise was still worried, but Kirche was stopping all talk of dissuading either participant.

The three girls, the dragon and the salamander all made their way to the vestry court. Within twenty minutes of the challenge being issued, news of it had spread throughout the school. Naturally the student body gathered, the opportunity to skip class for something interesting was rare. And even more rare was the fact that both professor Colbert, and the headmaster were in attendance as well…

Ten minutes before the duel was scheduled to begin a crowd of well over three hundred had gathered many for no other reason than there was a giant crowd gathering.

Hrist still not in her armor had been waiting patiently pretty much since the boy had issued the challenge. Guiche arrived a little under five minutes late... fashionably so.

Upon arrival the crowd parted way for him, like a sea of lemmings parting for their god.

He began posturing immediately. "AH! So good to see you actually showed up, I was afraid you were going to embarrass the poor little zero even more than she already is!"

The snipe at her little adopted sister set her already boiling nerves alight. "Are you here to posture or fight?"

Mocking the woman before him, he feigned surprise, "Fight? Me? Never… Your opponent will be these, my lovely bronze valkyries…"

A single wave of his rose wand dislodged three petals from the flower; two golems sprang from the ground for each petal that fell.

From a craftsmanship standpoint, the 'valkyries' that Guiche used were quite impressive. Well proportioned, exquisitely detailed, and armed to the proverbial teeth. But all they did was anger Hrist more than she had been in millennia.

"Valkyries?" her jaw was clenched tightly shut. She managed to snarl out the title of his construct without parting her teeth. "You have the AUDACITY to call this soft imitation a VALKYRIE!?"

This was most certainly not the reaction Guiche was expecting, awe, reverence, fear; any of those would have been acceptable… but blind frothing rage? That was new and more than a little disturbing.

"I will teach you your place CHILD. Come show me your worth." Hrist never moved from her standing position, but for all of the audience members, it seemed as if she had just gotten MUCH closer to Guiche.

In response Guiche sent his golems to attack the arrogant and frightening woman.

Three of the golems came straight at her. The others remained close to their master.

It was in a word, pathetic. The three were so slow; nothing at that level could EVER hope to even touch her. All three were armed with simple spears, she could use those. Too bad none of them were worth keeping.

As the first of the Golem's reached her Hrist stepped gently to the outside of the spear, just out of the way of danger standing straight as the golem continued, she wrapped her right arm around the shaft of the spear, spun to her left, and threw the six foot tall solid bronze statue through the air and straight into its twin. Both were knocked to the ground with an amazing clang of noise.

Now armed with the spear of the first golem, Hrist continued her spin, allowing the spear to slip lightly in her grip, extending the weapon to its full length. As she spun, the blunt end of the spear's shaft caught the third golem across the bridge of the nose. Severely deforming and denting the bronze of the statues face.

The blow also had enough power to not only knock the golem flat on its back from a full charge, but to also cause the shaft of the spear Hrist had in her hands to basically explode; covering the small clearing in bronze scraps. Hrist finished out her spin by launching the remaining piece of the bronze spear straight at Guiche's head. His life was spared only because the golems were basically programmed to sacrifice themselves to save him.

So a fourth golem caught the spearhead square in the chest. It had a tower shield that it attempted to use, but with the strength Hrist put behind the throw it with just ignored the shield. Only the mass of the golem saved Guiche from an untimely death.

The whole exchange had taken a total of 3 seconds. Two golems were completely inoperable, one was disarmed and prone, and a fourth was tangled in the limbs of the third. It wasn't looking good for Guiche, and from his standpoint, Lennore hadn't used more than a single breath in the whole exchange. This was seriously not good. "FINE! If six aren't enough for you then how about twelve?"

The boy was seriously getting desperate. If she managed to get through all twelve of his golems, he might actually have to fight her sword to sword. It was unheard of.

Hrist decided it was time to call an end to this farce. Calling on some of her power Hrist summoned her armor in a blinding display. a token of effort was all it took to focus some of her photons into a large bladed halberd, although what she made was more akin to a battle axe with a spear tip on the end of a seven foot pole. When her construct was finished it was nearly nine feet long, and made out of pure sparkling blue crystal. The crowd, that had been cheering and jeering supporting Guiche despite his grim prospects earlier, had gone deathly silent.

"Divine Assault... Nebelung Valesti." The words that crossed Hrist's lips had been a death sentence for countless creatures, living undead, and divine alike. It was a small mantra that signaled her activating a portion of her power. This was an attack unique to her and her sisters, and even then, the three of them had small variances in the way they executed their attacks. For Hrist, the move tapped into her ability to manipulate her Divine energy, speeding her assault and slowing her enemies.

From Guiche's perspective the world went dark, as if the sun had dropped behind a cloud, the sound of bronze screaming in protest and a sudden shift in his perspective was the only indication that anything was happening. Both the unnatural darkness and the sound lasted only a moment. And when the sun returned Guiche came face to face with the grim reality of his mistake.

Ten of his active golems had been reduced to scraps. He was flat on his back staring at the bladed end of Lenore's giant halberd, the spear tip embedded in the ground less than an inch from his neck, the axe blade crossing over his neck trapping him on the ground. A hungry look bordering on ecstasy was filling the face of the woman he had sought to humiliate.

Six seconds, that's all the time it had taken the woman to completely destroy fourteen of Guiche's best golems. Ten of them he hadn't even seen fall. Continuing the fight, with the four remaining golems was tantamount to suicide. "Yield! I Yield!"

The hungry look that had filled her face changed, one of contempt took its place. "Coward. You sought to duel me, and yet you don't even have the spine to finish the fight. A look of finality came to the woman's eyes, hardening her face into something truly terrifying.

"Farewell Guiche de Garmmonte. May the gates of hell swing wide to welcome you gently, for no other will."

* * *

Im pleased to see that this actually has some attention on it, this is pretty much the end of what i have pre-written so expect this story to slow down in the posting for a while.

if you see anything you need to comment on, or gripe about feel free to drop a review.


	3. Recovery, Rules, and Hope

AN: Ok so here is chapter 3. found I had a bit of spare time at work *chough*all of it*chough*

so I tried to put out a little bit of effort (and stave off the inevitable boredom induced nap) by putting this together.

So, before we get to our mandatory disclaimer, thank you to all of you who took the time to review this story so far. I really appreciate it. Couple of little things I kinda want to address from those reviews too,

#1. Overkill on the fop.

I do admit, that having Hrist go completely apeshit on Guiche was a bit sudden, but I want you to think about this: First off, he has been abusing his rights as a so-called noble, and while yes Hrist couldn't care less about the difference between nobility and commoner, it was the abuse he was heaping on Seista that set her off. It was needless and inexcusable for a man. Then he had the nerve to show up to a duel HE requested late; bad form. Third strike was the golems. Hrist typically is portrayed as very cold and efficient, ruthlessly dealing with blasphemers and those who defile the gods. Well, I don't know about how you guys see it, but with Hrist, a VALKYRIE, standing on the field, once the golems came out she saw them as an insult and a slight against the gods, hence the sudden rage. But my reasoning for the Soul Crush so soon? At one point Guiche had 12 golems on the field ready to fight, and if you have a 10 hit combo just chillin' in the wings why not use it? Especially if it's easier to do and more efficient than taking on each opponent individually (admittedly if she used it on one opponent as opposed to 10 plus fop we would have hot hamburger on the ground instead...). Also considering by the game canon Hrist doesn't have any massive AoE nukes *shrugs*

#2 Killing the fop.

Now this one made me LOL. Come on guys! First rule of bad cinema! If you don't see the head roll it didn't happen. I did intend for it to be a bit cliffhanger-ish but the fact that everyone who reviewed and commented on it seemed assured he was dead leads me to think I need to change something in my style. *shrugs*

#3 Hrist's cover name.

Yup you were right, it's Leone, not Lennore. I forgot and thank you for reminding me. I'll go back and change it soon. From now on I'm gonna use Leone when her cover name is referenced but expect it to phase out soon anyways.

As always reviews are appreciated, and if you leave a review with a logged in profile I might even answer or comment back to ya before the next chapter! (*gasp* he does that?)

ON WITH THE SHOW! and the disclaimers...

I owns NOTHING! F****!...

OH! and thanks go to "Nameless Flame Wielder" for being my beta, and generally awesome sauce friend. check his stuff out Iz le gud ya?

* * *

Three people saw Hrist hoist her weapon with killer intent, and three people moved to stop her as one. Louise called out to her while physically tackling her, attempting to hold her back.

"FAMILIAR! Stop! Don't kill him!"

Both Professor Jean Colbert, and the school headmaster Osmond, having been in the crowd watching discreetly, decided something more definitive was called for. Both professors were rated as square class mages within their respective elements, fire for the professor, and earth for the headmaster. Between their combined ability it was a simple matter for them to both push Guiche out of the way of the halberd and create a wall of fire to try and stop the woman in her tracks.

The fire proved completely incapable of slowing the woman down; she stepped through the minor inferno as if it wasn't even there, flames rolling off her body as if afraid to burn even a single hair on her head. Fortunately the headmaster had more success in moving his student. The earth heaved beneath the fop, carrying him away from what his 'victim' on a wave of dirt.

Meanwhile Louise clung to Lenore's waist like a child to her mother, dragging her feet in a futile attempt to stop her familiar. Hrist finally seemed to realize that she was being held and paused and looked to her smaller would-be little sister. "Louise, you would have me spare this waste of flesh?"

Louise nodded her head emphatically. "Y-yes! There's no need to kill him over something like this!"

Relieved that the pink-haired Valliere had managed to stop her familiar's rampage, Professor Colbert approached warily. "Indeed madam. Not only does the boy not deserve to die, but killing him would be highly illegal. And we would have to turn both you and Miss Valliere over to the palace."

Hrist did not seem impressed. "Hmph, good luck… But why would Louise have to be taken away with me?" Hrist had once more changed how she looked at the situation. If her actions would affect Louise, then she might have cause to be more careful, at least in certain matters. Their comings and goings held little relevance in the long run to her for the most part, but Louise was different.

Louise filled in the blanks. "The familiar represents the summoner, your achievements are mine, your failures are mine, and… your crimes are mine."

"I see. It appears the situation is more complicated than I anticipated." Hrist stated looking down to the girl attached to her hip. "It seems we have much to discuss Louise." Looking back to the two older professors and the now silent crowd surrounding her and Guiche, Hrist put an end to the farce of a battle. "Very well, It seems you will live for now boy..." she declared coldly. Planting the point of her halberd in the ground, Hrist turned with Louise to leave the courtyard.

Recalling the missing entries on his student's paperwork and the apparent lapse in his judgment professor Colbert called out to the enigmatic woman and her pink-haired summoner. "Wait, madam, I still need your runic name."

"Not now; I will speak to you later. I believe you have a student to attend to." Once more coldly dismissing the professor, Hrist didn't even bother breaking stride or turning around as she led Louise off the court.

Once Louse and her familiar were out of the courtyard the murmuring began, students talking about what they had just seen. Disbelief was the common theme, incredulity close behind that. The thought that a commoner was able to defeat a mage, and as soundly as Leone had defeated Guiche, was unheard of. For most of the students, what they had just witnessed was a fantasy, something that was reserved for fanciful stories and sultry romances, not a schoolyard brawl.

Of the nearly three hundred students gathered in the vestry courtyard two were standing side by side, a study in opposites: one caramel-skinned, curvaceous and sultry the other pale-skinned, petite and conservative. Tabitha and Kirche had come to this expecting something interesting, but seeing their classmate almost literally torn apart in less than half a minute was beyond all expectations.

Tabitha summed up the events of the morning quite succinctly: "Dangerous..." Kirche could only nod her agreement.

Kneeling next to his student, Professor Colbert took in the state of his student. Physically speaking the boy was fine: he was almost completely untouched. The only damage he had taken in the entire affair was when he hit the ground, and when the headmaster moved him out of danger. Minor abrasions and rashes were a small price to pay when the alternative was beheading...

That was no duel. It was almost an execution.

Mentally on the other hand, the boy was a wreck. Now that the adrenaline from the near death experience was wearing off his body was trembling violently, his eyes were widely dilated and darting around looking for the source of his terror. A foul smell emanating from the boys trousers.

Turning to the nearest student he could find, a petite little girl with blonde hair, the professor waved her over. "Please go and bring the medic. You do know where the infirmary is, yes?"

Taking one fearful glance at the quivering boy on the ground the girl nodded and hesitantly replied with a quiet "Yes professor," before running off to do as he asked.

While Colbert had been examining the boy, Osmond began trying to disperse the crowds of students still milling around. A minor wind spell allowed the headmaster's normally quiet voice to be heard by everyone in the courtyard. "Alright students, that is quite enough. The first and third years still have class. Please return to your assigned classrooms. Second year students, I ask you disperse with your familiars for the time being." Though obviously reluctant, once the students began to obey and disperse the elder professor went over to inspect the aftermath. "How is the boy, Jean?"

Sighing as he sat up, Professor Colbert removed his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose. He turned to his employer "He should be fine, might have nightmares for a while, but nothing lasting."

"Hmm... good, good… But this was very interesting wasn't it?" The elder professor had an out-of-place look of amusement on his face as he stroked his beard in thought.

"How so? Poor Gramonte was nearly killed over a childish squabble!" The outrage was clear on Professor Colbert's face and his voice was almost thunderous.

"Exactly! Think about it Jean. Guiche de Garmonte, son of the general Garmonte a very proficient dot-class earth mage, and a proficient tactician in his own right, was defeated by the FAMILIAR of one Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. And while her family is reportedly powerful and influential she has shown none of this talent in anything aside from academics and theory..." as the headmaster explained his interest in the situation, professor Colbert's eyes were drawn to the ornate halberd Hrist had left imbedded in the ground glittering in the afternoon sun.

"Correct me if I'm wrong Jean, but wasn't Miss Vallière at risk for expulsion recently?"

Nodding his head at the headmaster's inquiry, Colbert closed his eyes, recalling the poor girl's… precarious situation. "Yes, until recently Miss Vallière had yet to perform any magic of substance, and as such her grades in all of her practical magic courses were failures. The duchess Vallière was intending to pull her daughter from our academy if she couldn't perform her familiar summons adequately."

"And yet the familiar she summons is not only human, but also capable of summoning weapons and armor out of thin air, and more than strong enough to treat one of Mr. Garmonte's ability as if they were nothing..." Osmond observed, walking towards the halberd as he spoke. Both men's breath caught in their lungs as the weapon shattered like a pane of glass on the first touch. Shards of formerly unyielding crystal fell to the ground like so many snowflakes. "So very interesting... and was I right in hearing that you have yet to discover her runic name? That is very unlike you Jean."

Hanging his head at the admonishment Professor Colbert shyly scratched the tip of his nose. "I know, and while I am ashamed to admit it, while researching the matter I was overcome with a desire to continue my experiments with the explosive oil."

Osmond nodded easily. "Any results?" To say that Jean was put off by the headmaster's acceptance of his oversight would be an understatement.

"Not any more than the last time... You aren't upset?" Jean hedged, feeling like the old headmaster was just waiting for the right moment to verbally tear into him.

"There is nothing to be upset about. You already seem to be correcting the mistake, and it didn't endanger anyone so why get upset? Besides, did you ever consider that she may have 'inspired' your need to experiment?"

Professor Colbert was left gaping at the implications. "But... but there was no incantation, and she didn't have a wand, that should be impossible!"

Smiling gently the old man had a mischievous glint in his eyes. "I know... so very very interesting."

* * *

Walking across the open fields outside of the academy walls Hrist and Louise found themselves a quite spot in the shade of a large oak tree to have their discussion.

As they sat down, Louise got straight to the first and most pressing thing on her mind. "So... you can use magic?" she mumbled nervously.

Smiling softly at how impatient her little Louise was, Hrist gently shook her head. "Louise, please let me go first: it will be much easier for you."

Grimacing slightly at having her familiar tell her to wait but unsure how to continue, Louise nodded her assent.

"Ok Louise, you summoned me to act as your familiar yes?" nodding her head Louise allowed her familiar to continue. "What _exactly_ does that entail?"

The little mage almost immediately replied. "Normally a familiar is responsible for assisting their master in whatever way they are capable of: fetching reagents for spell-casting, allowing us to see what they see, and in extreme cases defending their master from harm." Talking magical theory seemed to bring Louise back to her senses from the debacle earlier, and the words started to come easier for the little girl.

"So, why are my actions a direct reflection on you?" This had been bothering Hrist since it was brought up, and now was a good time to get it resolved.

"That has to do with the fact that until you, all familiars have been either magical creatures like Tabitha and Kirche got, or slightly special mundane animals."

"Like the coward's giant mole?" Hrist somehow managed to make even that passing reference to Guiche sound cold even if she was gentle and warm to Louise.

The reminder of Guiche and the fight that had just finished caused Louise to openly flinch. "Yes, that is a good example."

Hrist nodded in understanding. "So it's less that the world sees us as one and the same, and more the fact that regular familiars are little more than glorified pets. That is easy enough to understand."

Turning her back from the tree they were sitting under, Hrist brought herself to look straight at Louise with an odd smile on her face. "Louise, if I am supposed to be your familiar, tell me what troubles you so."

The look of shock on Louise face was clear as day, and it quickly went from shock to outrage.

"Wh-what? Nothing troubles me! What could trouble me?"

Moving closer to Louise to rest her hand on the younger girl's leg in a reassuring manner Hrist spoke softly to calm her down. "Louise, I've been here barely two days and I can already see you keep a strong image, but something is bothering you. You said it yourself a familiar is supposed to help their master however they can, so let me help you."

Louise looked up at the warrior-woman and fought back the urge to lash out. She had seen this woman demolish a noble with no effort whatsoever, and yet she was now trying to talk to her like a sister. It didn't make any sense; was she a ruthless warrior like her mother or a caring person like her sister? "It's… It's nothing!" she tried.

Hrist's smile didn't falter in the slightest. Instead, she wrapped an arm around Louise's small shoulders and pulled her closer. "Even the greatest of us have our worries. You need not hide them from me; I'll help you face them."

It was unfair, Louise thought. Her familiar was amazing and frightening and kind and dangerous and gentle… Maybe it was just having someone who cared right here, but she found herself speaking to the taller woman quietly. "I'm… scared, Leone." Giving in to the comforting embrace, she leaned her head on Hrist's shoulder but refused to look up at her. "Last night, I dreamt that my mother disowned me, and my father hated me."

It took a lot to shock Hrist: she had seen the worst depravity humanity was capable of and fought with the worst nightmares anyone could ever dream up, and she fought them all with a smile. But seeing this little girl with enough power to summon a goddess from beyond death whimper in fear of her family's ire: that struck a chord with her. "Why would they do that?"

"A mage's nobility comes from magic," she recited. "My family is filled with exceptional mages… except me. I haven't cast a single spell right even though I work so hard. This school is the best in Tristain, and even they haven't been able to figure out what's wrong with me. How can I make my parents proud when I can't even do the simplest thing?" Louise was starting to ramble, unloading the condensed story of her troubles to the first person she had met on campus that she felt she could trust unconditionally. Even the professors couldn't understand what it was like to live with that kind of failure.

"And what of your classmates? Have they offered any help?"

Louise looked away sharply. "Why would they? I'm just the Zero," she mumbled bitterly. "Zero success, zero chance, zero hope," she forced herself to say, fighting back any show of emotion. A Valliere never showed weakness to anyone.

The small mage didn't expect for her familiar to pull her more fully into her lap, wrapping her in a gentle embrace. Hrist quietly whispered in her ear, "Not anymore." Louise would forever deny that she shed even a single tear there, and Hrist would never tell.

The pair spent a few minutes like this, just enjoying the warmth of the others presence. Then Louise's curiosity got the better of her. "So you can use magic?"

"Haha," The sound of soft laughter rang like music in the stillness of the clearing, breaking the solemnity of the moment. "No, not as you know it, but after a fashion. I can use a power very similar to magic."

The half-answer left Louise just as confused as she was to start with. "What do you mean?"

"Do you remember yesterday when your professor was trying to get me to remove my gauntlet?"

Seeing Louise nod in remembrance, Hrist continued. "Wasn't it strange how he suddenly dropped the topic and left?"

Louise eyes went wide when she realized what happened. Her familiar had enchanted her professor, without wand or incantation, and nobody noticed. Magic that affected the mind was illegal in civilized countries, and her familiar was able to use it so casually? "That was you!? What did you do to him?"

"Nothing dangerous to him or others, I assure you. A small amount of power and a bit of focus on the desire for him to leave, that's all. What he did after that was what he would have done if we had never crossed paths at all that day." A subtle smile played across Hrist's face. Mortals were so vulnerable to suggestions. At times like these she could fully understand why Loki enjoyed his mischief so much. "My weapon and armor are similar, merely raw power given form."

Looking up at Hrist, Louise had a pitifully hopeful look on her face. It was simultaneously adorable and almost heart-wrenching. "So it's not really magic?"

"No. most mages would be insulted if I called such tricks true magic." shaking her head to emphasize her point Hrist regarded the hopeful look on Louise face carefully. "Why?"

"Maybe… I could learn it, too?" Louise tried. If it was mere power given purpose and form, perhaps it would let her wield whatever magic she had. Maybe the problem was never with having magic or not, but something else. So long as she wasn't using elven magic, it should be alright to try.

"N..." Hrist's first instinct was to automatically tell her no and leave it at that. Wielding raw divine energy was not the place of mortals. But, something about Louise continued to remind her of her sister Silmeria, and the memories of her previous incarnation Alicia reminded Hrist that it had been done before. "No... not 'no,' it very well may be possible..." she hedged.

"What do you need me to do?" Louise instantly jumped at the chance. The look of desperate hope on the little girls face was enough to make Hrist legitimately hate whatever or whoever had forced the girl to such lengths that such desperation was possible, especially at her age.

Thinking about it for a moment, Hrist realized she didn't know how to teach this sort of thing to a mortal. Silmeria had been conscious inside of Alicia to assist with her learning, but the painful desperation from Louise demanded at least an experiment from Hrist. "To be honest Louise, I am not sure: I've never taught anyone to do this, so for now... let me see you cast a normal spell."

"What spell?" the hope on her face had changed into a tired resignation when she realized it wouldn't be a quick fix.

"It doesn't matter, whatever you choose will suffice." As Louise stood up and moved away from her familiar, Hrist focused all of her attention on her, trying to feel the energy the little girl was calling. She could tell that the girl had divine energy even from here; the question was whether or not she was accessing it when she attempted mortal spells.

Nodding her head as she raised her wand, Louise chose a quick fireball spell. Even if it only exploded like all the others it was the closest thing she had to a 'working' spell. Besides, it tended to make a bigger explosion than something like 'sleep' or 'silence' would, and in some part of her mind she had to admit if she was going to be a failure at casting she might as well be an impressive one. "FIREBALL!" pointing her wand at a tree deeper within the line of the forest Louise released the spell, and like all of her other attempts it had explosive results.

Unlike her failures in the class, which usually ended with some broken glass a bit of smoke and a change of clothes, this spell ended up turning a good five-foot portion of the trunk into so much sawdust instantly, leaving the rest of the fifty-foot mammoth to plummet to the ground violently.

*CRASH!*

As the tree groaned and toppled, Hrist jumped forward, wrapping her arms around her summoner and leaped out of harm's way. Once the dust settled and Louise was able to see again, she realized that her familiar had her wrapped protectively within her arms and had hid behind the trunk of another tree.

A smile had appeared on her face, one eerily similar to the one she had when Guiche challenged her to a duel. "I thought you said you couldn't cast magic?" Hrist couldn't have been happier if she wanted to be at the moment. The spell Louise had just cast was composed of PURE divine energy, not a trace of fire or any other element to be found. And it all felt like Silmeria.

"I can't: that was a failure of a spell, it was supposed to be a fireball." Louise tried to hide it, but when her spells failed like this it always hurt. On some level she realized it was just another confirmation that she _was_ 'Zero'.

"Do you know what I saw, Louise?" the grin hadn't budged an inch from Hrist's face, confusing Louise immensely.

"What?" Louise couldn't reconcile her sisterly familiar with that almost feral grin she was sporting.

"I saw you doing exactly what I was hoping to see."

"Huh?"

Putting Louise back on the ground to stand on her own, Hrist walked back towards the now broken treeline. "Watch carefully Louise" standing in a neutral stance in front of the stump Louise had made, Hrist threw a photon at it silently. An explosion similar to what Louise had just caused resounded through the clearing, though on a smaller scale.

"Now your turn Louise, tell me what YOU saw."

Louise was speechless, her familiar caused explosions too? Was she doing something right (or wrong in a different way) after all? "Uh... I don't know..."

Cradling her face gently in the palm of her hand, Hrist looked at her summoner through her fingers. "Did you feel anything when I did that?"

Hesitantly, Louise nodded. There was something there she felt tugging at her senses, though she couldn't describe it.

"Do you think you can copy it?"

Looking apprehensive at the prospect of failure again, Louise looked up to Hrist. "I can try, but could you walk me through it?"

Hrist's smile became gentler, more encouraging. "Of course... first come over here, we don't want you to hit anything too close to you after all." Motioning for Louise to stand next to her in front of the stump, Hrist began, "Now, I don't know what it feels like for you when you cast your spells, but I assume the beginning is the same. Close your eyes."

Both women were standing in that clearing relaxed with their eyes closed, and missed the shadow of a dragon flying overhead. "Next, I want you to find your power, whatever it is when you cast your spells. Search yourself for it; tell me once you think you've found it,"

Nodding her head with her eyes still closed Louise took a deep breath. "Ok Leone, I think I've found it. It's warm." In truth, this was not a new exercise for any mage, but if it helped her familiar, she would go through it again.

Smiling at how fast Louise was taking the instructions, Hrist continued, "Now, I want you to bring your hands up in front of you, once you do that focus on moving that power with your will."

"To my hands? What about a wand or a staff?"

"You should not need those for this. Your power might resist, but don't try and force it. If it won't move, just stop and try again."

"Okay." Opening her eyes to watch Louise, Hrist stepped off to the side. The sight of the little girl making progressively more frustrated faces, while humorous, was tempered by the sight of a spark of energy glowing between her outstretched hands.


End file.
